Military article and "Brief image of processes and judicial trials” as the basis for the administration of justice in the Russian army in the XVIII century

The article is devoted to the study of the problematic issues of the origin, formation and functioning of the first military-criminal and the first military-procedural codes: Military Article and "Brief Image of Processes and Judicial Trials". The codes analyzed in the article became the most important normative legal acts of the military-criminal and military-procedural legislation of Peter I. The Russian army and the military-judicial system acquired legislation developed at the highest legal level. An attempt has been made to establish the normative sources that formed the basis for the creation of the Military Article and "Brief Image of Processes and Judicial Trials" as well as to identify the goals and tasks that were set by the legislator in drafting the described codes of conduct for military personnel in Russia. The paper gives a brief description of the Military and Admiralty Colleges created on December 15, 1717, which from the very beginning were not only central government bodies, but also the institutions of justice. So, as the bodies of justice, these colleges were audit-decision-making structures in relation to the military-judicial organs of the first level - krigsrehtes, so the Military and Admiralty Colleges occupied the position of second-degree courts. The analysis of the mixed military-civil judicial presence, formed in connection with the conduct in the late 1710's - the first half of the 1720's large-scale tax reform, as a result of which military units were placed "on perpetual apartments" in rural areas. The provisions regulating the activities of the military justice, which were fixed in the "Poster on Collection of Cap and Other Matters" and "On the Position of Colonel" of November 6, 1724. The example of specific military criminal trials shows the activities of military courts (krigsrehtes), discipline and law and order in the troops.